|
| Artificial Intelligence Research
| New York Times Articles
| News from Other Media |
(* denotes articles of special interest)
Artificial Intelligence Research
AI on the Web
[Reference, People, Companies, Research Groups, Links]
Computer Science Dept., UC Berkeley
* WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?
[Basic Questions, Branches of AI, Applications, Bibliography]
By John McCarthy, Computer Science Dept., Stanford University
* Brief History of Artificial Intelligence
[A chronology of significant events in the History of AI]
By Bruce G. Buchanan, University Professor Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh
Wikipedia: Artificial intelligence
[Sub-fields, History, Applications, Researchers, Reading, Fiction]
SRI's Artificial Intelligence Center
[Background, People, Research, Events, News]
AAAI: American Association for Artificial Intelligence
[Founded in 1979, AI Magazine, AAAI Conference, Membership]
AI Magazine: official publication of AAAI
[Articles, Back issues, List of complete contents, AI topics]
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research
[JAIR: Vol. 1 (August 1993) to Vol. 24 (July 2005-present)]
AI Depot: A community for the discussion of artificial intelligence
[Features, Community, Knowledge, Search]
MIT: Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
[About CSAIL, Faculty, Research Activities, Publications, Events, News]
Rethinking Artificial Intelligence
[Overview by Patrick H. Winston]
Marvin Minsky Home Page
[Abstracts, Bibliography, Biography, Books, Publications, Research Groups]
Stanford AI Lab
[The lab is located in the Gates Computer Science Building and the
Clark Center, where 100+ people share the space with 20+ robots.]
Homepage Sebastian Thrun
[Director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab]
Bibliographies on Artificial Intelligence
[FAQ, Search, Browse, Contribute, Statistics, 2 million references]
Artificial Intelligence, Nanotechnology, & Robotic Articles from the New York Times
Rise of the Robots
[House-cleaning devices multiply but have yet to invade most homes]
(By Therese Poletti, San Jose Mercury News, Dec. 7, 2006)
* SCIENCE: Scientists Identify Gene Difference Between Humans and Chimps
[The DNA sequences of humans and chimpanzees are 98 percent identical. Yet that 2%
difference represents at least 15 million changes in our genome since the time of our
common ancestor roughly six million years ago. Now a new computational technique has
identified 49 regions that have changed particularly quickly between humans and chimps,
and may have revealed at least one gene critical to the development of our larger brains.]
(By David Biello, Scientific American, Aug. 17, 2006)
* SCIENCE: The Expert Mind [Studies of chess grandmasters' mental processes
have revealed clues to how people become experts in other fields as well.
José Raúl Capablanca of Cuba won 168 games in a row in 1909.]
(By Philip E. Ross, Scientific American, July 24, 2006)
* SCIENCE: Man Uses Chip to Control Robot With Thoughts
[A paralyzed man with a small sensor implanted in his brain was able
to control a computer, a television and a robot using only his thoughts.]
(By ANDREW POLLACK, July 12, 2006)
* FINDINGS: For Robots, Fuel Cells That Double as Muscles
[Dr. Ray H. Baughman, University of Texas at Dallas, reported in Science,
that his new muscle fibers double as fuel cells. Just like real muscles,
they power themselves instead of relying on external electrical power.]
(By KENNETH CHANG, Mar. 21, 2006)
* SCIENCE: Astronomers Find the Earliest Signs Yet of a Violent Baby Universe
[Results confirms inflation theory that during its first moments, the universe,
fueled by an antigravitational field, underwent a violent growth spurt,
ballooning from submicroscopic to astronomical size in the blink of an eye.]
(By DENNIS OVERBYE, Mar. 17, 2006)
* TECHNOLOGY: The Shape of Robots to Come [Scoty, the latest robot from
the robotic-toy maker WowWee, demonstrated its functions: managing a personal
computer's communication and entertainment abilities, finding and playing songs
by voice request, recording television shows, telling users when they have e-mail
and, again by voice request, reading the e-mail aloud. It takes and then sends
voice-to-text e-mail dictation. It takes pictures, and gives the time when asked.]
(By MICHEL MARRIOTT, Mar. 16, 2006)
* Science briefing: Breakthrough on memory loss
[Johns Hopkins University scientists found a protein when injected
into healthy rats has a detrimental effect on their memory.]
(Financial Times, London, UK, Mar. 16, 2006)
* SCIENCE: Far Out, Man. But Is It Quantum Physics?
[Based on the insights of modern quantum physics, that reality is just a mental construct
that we can rearrange and improve, if we are enlightened or determined enough. Science &
spirituality have tied the knot, and the world is your infinitely deformable apple.]
(By DENNIS OVERBYE, Mar. 14, 2006)
* IDEAS & TRENDS: The Art of Building a Robot to Love
[Dr. Bartneck's robot, called eMuu, is a teardrop-shaped cyclops that can
arch its eyebrow and mouth to express anger, happiness or sadness.]
(By HENRY FOUNTAIN, Mar. 5, 2006)
* SCIENTIST AT PLAY | Daniel Wilson: If Robots Ever Get Too Smart,
He'll Know How to Stop Them [Wilson says, "If popular culture has
taught us anything, it is that someday mankind must face and destroy
the growing robot menace."] (By CORNELIA DEAN, Feb. 14, 2006)
Custom-Made Microbes, at Your Service
[Harvard professor of genetics, George Church: "We want to do
for biology what Intel does for electronics. We want to design
and manufacture complicated biological circuitry."]
(By ANDREW POLLACK, Jan. 17, 2006)
VITAL SIGNS: Therapies: A Dose of Dolphins for Moderate Depression
[Patients who took part in the program that let them spend time with bottlenose dolphins
for two weeks enjoyed relief from their symptoms. A control group without dolphins did not.]
(By ERIC NAGOURNEY, Dec. 6, 2005)
* NANOTECHNOLOGY: Too Tiny for Trouble? Scientists Take a Look
[The database at nanotechproject.org includes over 200 research programs.]
(By BARNABY J. FEDER, Nov. 29, 2005)
* TECHNOLOGY: Writing the Fastest Code, by Hand, for Fun:
A Human Computer Keeps Speeding Up Chips
[Kazushige Goto's handmade code has bested the work of a powerful automated system and entire
teams of software developers in producing programs that run the world's fastest supercomputers.]
(By JOHN MARKOFF, Nov. 28, 2005)
* THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: What Would a Clone Say?
[Kazuo Ishiguro's novel "Never Let Me Go" is a cultural landmark:
a subtle, sympathetic portrait of the inner life of a clone.]
(By GARY ROSEN, Nov. 27, 2005)
ARTS: Pardon Me, but the Art Is Mouthing Off
[Represented by a talking head on a flat-screen monitor, and equipped
with voice-recognition software, the artificial intelligence computer—
known as DiNA - was designed to chat with visitors about current affairs.
She is supposed to be a political animal, or more precisely, machine.]
(By JORI FINKEL, Nov. 27, 2005)
A Moody Robotic Chimp With Eyes That Can Track Your Every Move
[Animatronics will invade the living room in the form of a hairy, interactive
digital toy: the Alive Chimpanzee by the toy robotics maker WowWee.]
(By MICHEL MARRIOTT, Nov. 24, 2005)
* THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: Beyond Human
[Kurzweil says, "We'll learn how brains operate and devise computers that function
like them. Then the barrier between our minds and our computers will disappear.
The part of our memory that is literally downloaded will grow until
"the nonbiological portion of our intelligence will predominate."]
(By CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL, Oct. 23, 2005)
* Meet the Life Hackers [Researchers are trying to discover the best moments
to interrupt the modern office worker. more desktop space equals greater productivity.]
(By CLIVE THOMPSON, Oct. 16, 2005)
* FINDINGS: At Dartmouth, a Remote-Controlled Robot
[Dartmouth's microrobot is the world's smallest untethered, controllable robot.
It measures 0.01"x0.0025"; 200 of them would stretch the length of an M&M.]
(By KENNETH CHANG, Oct. 11, 2005)
OBSERVATORY: Taking Inspiration From Sperm
[Attaching a tail to colloidal particles containing tiny bits of iron oxide,
researchers in Paris were able to move them when exposed to a magnetic field.]
(By HENRY FOUNTAIN, Oct. 11, 2005)
In a Grueling Desert Race, a Winner, but Not a Driver
[Stanley, a robotic vehicle designed by a Stanford team, wins $2 million prize
by being the fastest finisher on a 132-mile course through the Nevada desert.]
(By JOHN MARKOFF, Oct. 9, 2005)
TECHNOLOGY: Robotic Vehicles Contend for the Battlefield
[15 robotic vehicles sprinted through the Nevada desert, closing in
on a $2 million prize from the Pentagon meant to spur development
of technologies for 21st century automated warfare.]
(By JOHN MARKOFF, Oct. 8, 2005)
* TECHNOLOGY: Experts Give Scientists Roadmap on Nanotechnology Research
[Nanotechnology is a collection of processing skills and products in which
crucial dimensions are measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter,
a scale so tiny that molecular forces affect behavior.]
(By BARNABY FEDER, Oct. 6, 2005)
* BOOKS | 'The Singularity Is Near': Will the Future Be a Trillion Times Better?
[The book is startling in scope and bravado. Kurzweil envisions breathtakingly
exponential progress, and he is merely extrapolating from established data.]
(By JANET MASLIN, Oct. 3, 2005)
* OP-ED: That Famous Equation and You
[In Sept. 1905, Einstein gave the world E = mc2, an equation
that tells of matter, energy and a remarkable bridge between them.]
(By BRIAN GREENE, Sep. 30, 2005)
* DANCE: Tips for Ballet Dancers on the Art of Staying Well
[Most physically & mentally demanding: ballet, bullfighting, football]
(By ERIKA KINETZ, Sep. 27, 2005)
* From ape to 'Homo digitas'?
[It's not so clear that the modern, computer-using Homo digitas is
any more intelligent than the good, old-fashioned Homo sapien.]
(By Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com, Sep. 20, 2005)
Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore
[Researchers point out that cursing is often an amalgam of raw,
spontaneous feeling and targeted, gimlet-eyed cunning.]
(By NATALIE ANGIER, Sep. 20, 2005)
* TECHNOLOGY: A Company Looks to Wean Computers Off the Wires
[Greg Raleigh, Airgo Networks CEO in Palo Alto said his latest iteration of True MIMO,
an acronym for Multiple Input Multiple Output operates at as much as 240 megabits/sec,
easily surpassing standard Wi-Fi rates of as much as 54 megabits a second.]
(By MICHEL MARRIOTT, Sep. 19, 2005)
* DAVID POGUE: IPod's Law: The Impossible Is Possible
[Apple's IPod Nano is dazzlingly tiny— 3.5x1.6x0.27", size of a folded
playing card and thin enough to slip under a door, 4 gigabytes of memory,
and holds as much music as some hard-drive players— more than 1,000 songs.]
(By DAVID POGUE, Sep. 15, 2005)
* TECHNOLOGY: Robotic Vehicles Race, but Innovation Wins
[Sebastian Thrun, a roboticist & director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab:
His broader goal is to advance robotics as a science and explore applications ranging
from aids for the elderly to basic advances in intelligent computerized systems.]
(By JOHN MARKOFF, Sep. 14, 2005)
* Freakonomics: Does the Truth Lie Within?
[Seth Roberts is a 52-year-old psychology professor
at UC Berkeley, who uses his own body as a laboratory.]
(By STEPHEN J. DUBNER & STEVEN D. LEVITT, Sep. 11, 2005)
* SCIENCE: Researchers Say Human Brain Is Still Evolving
[Two genes involved in determining the size of the human brain
have undergone substantial evolution in the last 60,000 years.]
(By NICHOLAS WADE, Sep. 8, 2005)
* IDEA LAB: Deceit of the Raven
[Another challenge to our sense of uniqueness arises in the field of
artificial intelligence. Automatons are increasingly apt and lively—
less like machines and more like living minds.]
(By DAVID BERREBY, Sep. 4, 2005)
* Gravity-Defying Geckos Teach Scientists a Lesson
[500,000 minute hairs cover the sole of each foot, and the tip of each hair
splits into hundreds more— so they can run up walls & across ceilings]
(By DENISE GRADY, Aug. 30, 2005)
* Observatory: Bacteria Get Their Day
[A gram of unpolluted soil contains a million bacterial species or more]
(By HENRY FOUNTAIN, Aug. 30, 2005)
* Confounding Machines: How the Future Looked
[Chronology of Technology: Radio, Film, Television]
(By PETER EDIDIN, Aug. 28, 2005)
COVER ARTICLE: Roberts v. the Future
[Imagine a future constitutional case being brought on behalf of "a high-IQ
genetically engineered dolphin'' or, perhaps more plausibly, a computer
program for artificial intelligence that seems to perform human functions.]
(By JEFFREY ROSEN, Aug. 28, 2005)
* A Doll That Can Recognize Voices, Identify Objects and Show Emotion
[Amazing Amanda is a marvel of digital technologies, including speech-recognition
and memory chips, radio frequency tags and scanners, and facial robotics.]
(By MICHEL MARRIOTT, Aug. 25, 2005)
* How India Reconciles Hindu Values and Biotech
[Gandhi accused Western medicine, along with much of modern science
and technology, of inflicting violence upon human nature.]
(By PANKAJ MISHRA, Aug. 21, 2005)
* TECHNOLOGY: A New Arms Race to Build the World's Mightiest Computer
[China now has 19 supercomputers ranked among the 500 fastest machines]
(By JOHN MARKOFF, Aug. 19, 2005)
OP-ED: Artificial Intelligence
[Ars Magna, the software program that always answers in anagrams]
(By MIKE MORTON and SABRA MORTON, Aug. 18, 2005)
* TECHNO FILES: Now, if My Software Only Had a Brain...
[Another chapter in a continuing story: the quest for intelligent software.]
(By JAMES FALLOWS, Aug. 7, 2005)
The Xbox Auteurs [But in the Sims 2, the little virtual characters
have artificial intelligence and free will. When you're playing, you do not
control all the action: the fun is in putting your Sims in interesting
social situations, then standing back and watching what they'll do.]
(By CLIVE THOMPSON, Aug. 7, 2005)
The Chemistry of a 90+ Wine
[Charlie Rosen, one of the winery's founders & then head of artificial intelligence
at the Stanford Research Institute— considered McCloskey a genius]
(By DAVID DARLINGTON, Aug. 7, 2005)
* HEALTH: Neuron Network Goes Awry, and Brain Becomes an IPod
[Toward the end of his life, Robert Schumann wrote down the music he hallucinated;
legend has it that he said he was taking dictation from Schubert's ghost.]
(By CARL ZIMMER, July 12, 2005)
A Gene for Romance? So It Seems (Ask the Vole)
[Harvard's Catherine Dulac found that the male mouse depends on pheromones,
or air-borne hormones, to decide how to behave toward other mice]
(By NICHOLAS WADE, July 10, 2005)
Leonid Khachiyan Is Dead at 52; Advanced Computer Math
[He studied cyclic games, which have applications in artificial intelligence,
matrix games and polytopes, which are regions of space defined by hyperplanes.]
(By JEREMY PEARCE, May 22, 2005)
* SCIENCE: Now There Are Many: Robots That Reproduce
[Cornell's Dr. Hod Lipson: "Self-replication is the ultimate form of self-repair."]
(By KENNETH CHANG, May 17, 2005)
A Robot for the Home, Brains Not Included
[The PC-BOT ($1,199, whiteboxrobotics.com) is essentially a PC case on wheels]
(By JOHN BIGGS, May 12, 2005)
* Tiny Is Beautiful: Translating 'Nano' Into Practical
[Nanoparticles of various sorts are already found in
products like sunscreen, paint and inkjet paper.]
(By KENNETH CHANG, July 10, 2005)
* A New Company to Focus on Artificial Intelligence
[Jeff Hawkins, author of "On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain
Will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines" founded Numenta]
(By JOHN MARKOFF, March 24, 2005)
The First Nanotechnologists [Ancient stained-glass makers knew
that by putting varying, tiny amounts of gold and silver in the glass,
they could produce the red and yellow found in stained-glass windows.]
(By CHAD A. MIRKIN, Northwestern University, Feb. 21, 2005)
A Modern Use of Nanotechnology [Nanotechnology can be used to detect
minuscule amounts of genetic material, like anthrax, in tissue or blood samples.]
(By CHAD A. MIRKIN, Northwestern University, Feb. 21, 2005)
* TECHNOLOGY: Hewlett Reports Advance in Molecular-Scale Device
[Journal of Applied Physics: ultrasmall electronics that would one day
be smaller than what is possible with today's silicon-based technology.]
(By JOHN MARKOFF, Feb. 1, 2005)
* A Robot for the Masses [Mini-Me: Standing 14 inches tall,
Robosapien is a little bit human and a whole lot analog. While it has
its creator's "physique" and sounds like him, millions of transistors
control its seven motors and a chip with 12 kilobytes of programming.
(By FRANCISCO GOLDMAN, Nov. 28, 2004)
* New Tools to Help Patients Reclaim Damaged Senses
[Cheryl Schiltz recovered her sense of balance
with the aid of a sensory substitution device]
(By SANDRA BLAKESLEE, Nov. 23, 2004)
* AN ESSAY: Computers as Authors? Literary Luddites Unite!
[Computer program Brutus.1 & Narrative prose generator StoryBook]
(By DANIEL AKST, Nov. 22, 2004)
* A Submersible Robot Dives for Steamship Gold
[7-ton submersible robot with flexible arm & tiny suction cups
can pick up rare coins worth half a million dollars each]
(By WILLIAM J. BROAD, Nov. 16, 2004)
* MUSIC: NANCARROW FESTIVAL: Searching for
the Humanity In a Vision of Mechanization
(By BERNARD HOLLAND, Nov. 16, 2004)
* PUBLIC LIVES: Dancing to That Robotic Engineering Beat
[Prof. Naomi Ehrich Leonard: research beyond robotics,
extending control theory to all mechanical systems.]
(By CHRIS HEDGES, Nov. 9, 2004)
* Doctors Use Nanotechnology to Improve Health Care
[Nanotechnology may enable better early warning systems for cancer
and heart disease, cures for progressive diseases like cystic fibrosis,
techniques for making implants like artificial hips & artificial kidneys.]
(By BARNABY J. FEDER, Nov. 1, 2004)
* LETTERS: Computers as Poets
[Creation can come only from one's own life experience and voice]
Mar
(By ILENE STARGER, Nov. 29, 2003)
* PATENTS: The Muse Is in the Software
[Ray Kurzweil's software allows a computer to create poetry by imitating
but not plagiarizing the styles and vocabularies of human poets.]
(By TERESA RIORDAN, Nov. 24, 2003)
BOOKS: PILOTING PALM— The Inside Story of Palm, Handspring, and the Birth
of the Billion-Dollar Handheld Industry by Andrea Butter & David Pogue
[In 1991, Hawkins predicted that computers would become small, mobile & powerful.]
(By JEFF STARK, April 7, 2002)
MORE NEWS: AI, Cybernetics, Nanotechnology, Robotics, Transhumanism
Can you understand me now? [Translation service teams up with Skype to reach milllions]
[Futurists have long predicted that language one day would not divide people around the world.
They envisioned everyone carrying small computers that would automatically translate.]
(By Michelle Quinn, San Jose Mercury News, May 22, 2006)
* Singularity summit will explore human and machine 'cognition'
[Leading thinkers will explore at the Singularity Summit at Stanford on Saturday,
May 13, from 9 am-5 pm in Memorial Auditorium. Keynote speaker will be Ray Kurzweil,
author of The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. The event
is free and open to the public. To RSVP, go to http://sss.stanford.edu/rsvptoday/
For more information on the conference, go to http://sss.stanford.edu]
(Stanford Report, April 26, 2006)
Bio-engineered bladders successful in patients
[Anthony Atala of Wake Forest University Medical School is the first
to have grown and transplanted a discrete, complex organ.]
(By Roxanne Khamsi, New Scientist, April 4, 2006)
Tiny tweezers can manipulate single molecules
[Kazushi Kinbara of Tokyo University Graduate School of Engineering has developed
3-nanometers-long tweezers and as tiny as one ten-thousandth to one hundred-thousandth
of the thickness of a human hair. The tool is made of organic compounds which expand
and contract responding to light, and structurally similar to scissors and forceps.
The tweezers will gain attention as a tool used in nanotechnology research.
(The Daily Yomiuri - Osaka, Japan, March 24, 2006)
Big Dance for robots features teen techies
[40 teams in regional robotics competition at San Jose State University.]
(By Brandon Bailey, San Jose Mercury News, March 17, 2006)
Nanotech helps blind hamsters see
[MIT neuroscientist Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, injected blind hamsters with a
solution containing nanoparticles, the nerves re-grew and sight returned.]
(BBC News, UK, March 14, 2006)
Rest in Peace, Sony Aibo: Sony Pulls Plug on Robotic Dog
[The dogs, which cost $2,000 each, can dance, whimper, guard and play,
developing personalities based on interaction with its owners. Sony has
sold over 150,000 Aibos since launching the product in May 1999.]
(By Therese Poletti, San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 26, 2006)
Nanotech coating to cure fogging permanently
[MIT scientists has developed a silica nanoparticle polymer coating
for glass or plastic that creates a permanent non-fog surface.]
(Gizmag, Australia, Dec. 12, 2005)
Europeans cooperate to build Cyberhand, shape-shifting robot
[A computer that orders "Cyberhand" to greet you at the robotics lab
where researchers have spent the past 31/2 years creating the first
prosthetic hand capable of eliciting natural sensory signals.]
(By Aidan Lewis, Associated Press, Inside Bay Area, Dec. 11, 2005)
Why I Am Moving In With Ray Kurzweil
[We saw the office where Ray writes, including hundreds of cat figurines of which
I was most envious. We served cups of Tzao organic green tea with filtered water.
Ray's dining room had a view of the lake, amazing artworks, and family pictures.
Ray was so friendly and gracious that we all felt at ease almost immediately.]
(Posted By April Smith, Methuselah Mouse Prize, Dec. 10, 2005)
* Searching for the Memory of the Universe
[In Science and the Akashic Field, Ervin Laszlo proposes that a genuine
Theory of Everything (TOE) is achievable— that within nature exists an
interconnecting field that interweaves every atom, cell, organism, and mind,
throughout time— The Akashic Record. This field acts as "universe's memory"
and "continuously interacts with matter at every level from subatomic to cosmic
to influence the way every living thing grows, adapts, and evolves."]
(By Thomas Herold, Quantum Biocommunication Technology, Dec. 10, 2005)
The promise of Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine
[Robert Freitas, who wrote the book on "Nanomedicine", figuratively & literally
has dreamed up quite a few not so mundane uses. One is called Respirocytes,
bascally tiny canistors of oxygen acting as artificial blood cells.]
(By James Swayze, Methuselah Mouse Prize, Dec. 9, 2005)
Bringing a new focus to nanotech [Prof. Gang-yu Liu]
[The atomic force microscope uses an extremely fine tip to run over the surface
of a sample and "see" extremely fine detail down to an atomic scale.]
(By Andy Fell, UC Davis News, Dec. 8, 2005)
JEOL, MIT to Advance Soldier Nanotech
[Research to ightening soldiers' loads to increase their mobility and survival]
(Photonics.com, Dec. 8, 2005)
* The Power and Simplicity of Water
[Viktor Schauberger (1885-1958) invented a machine that could use most any unpolluted water
and process it into spring water. With this machine he acquired the name "The Water Wizard"]
(By Thomas Herold, Quantum Biocommunication Technology, Dec. 7, 2005)
New algorithm improves robot vision
[Stanford Prof. Andrew Ng unveils a machine vision algorithm that gives
robots the ability to approximate distances from single still images.]
(By David Orenstein, Stanford Report, Dec. 7, 2005)
The New Economy = Web 2.0 [Web 2.0 is nothing more than The New Economy.
It encompasses The Free World, Chris Anderson's Long Tail, Om Malik's "Built to Flip,"
the Perkins Curve, Ray Kurzweil's "Singularity", Nicholas Negroponte's $100 PC,
Google's "GoogleWorld," the "Mashington Post" and Ray Ozzie's Microsoft Live.]
(By Pip Coburn, Always On, Dec. 7, 2005)
Johns Hopkins Hospital to use robotics in drug prep
[Johns Hopkins Hospital is installing a robotic system
to automate the way it prepares injectable medications.]
(Baltimore Business Journal, Dec. 6, 2005)
THE TECH LIFE: Falling Behind the Curve?
[Kurzweil envisions a not-too-distant day when humans are
united with machines and immortality is an option.]
(By Alison Neumer Lara, Chicago Tribune, Dec. 4, 2005)
UK Government investigates risks of nanotech
[Like many new technologies, nanotech is threatened by hype. The government
report "Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies: Opportunities and Uncertainties",
concluded that there were no significant concerns at present but raised
areas where more research should be conducted.]
(Out-Law.com, UK, Dec. 2, 2005)
Futurist & Visionary Ray Kurzweil 'The Restless Genius' to
Deliver Keynote at G.A.M.E.S. Synergy Summit Jan. 17-18, 2006
[Bill Gates: "Ray Kurzweil is the best person I know at
predicting the future of artificial intelligence."]
(Press Release, GamesIndustry.biz, Dec. 1, 2005)
Nanotech innovations in information technology
[George Whitesides: And that kind of advance in information storage and retrieval
does lead to for me, concerns about privacy and individuality in the future.]
(By Eleanor Imster, Earth & Sky Radio Series, Dec. 1, 2005)
* Future Shock: Artificial intelligence and human evolution
[Dr. Max Moore, perhaps the preeminent thinker behind transhumanism,
radically altered the definition by stating that the ultimate goal
of transhumanism was to "guide us towards a posthuman condition."]
(By Mike Laverty, The Manitoban Online, Nov. 30, 2005)
* New Research Reveals That Thoughts Affect Genes
[Cellular biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton writes in Biology of Belief, that human beings
can control gene activity and even rewrite their genes through their beliefs.]
(By Thomas Herold, Quantum Biocommunication Technology, Nov. 29, 2005)
* The Singularity is an important topic in your blog.
Can you describe the term to newcomers?
[By definiton the term points to the moment in our future when the creation of
greater-than-human intelligence is followed by recursive self-enhancement.
The accelerating technological progress, especially within the semiconductor
industry, leads to these and other observations. These observations go back to
Teilhard de Chardin and de Solla Price, who preceded Ray Kurzweil's Singularity.]
(By Siggi Becker, The World According to Siggi, Nov. 28, 2005)
Living Forever? [Ray Kurzweil has the answer... maybe.
Read his new book, "Fantastic Voyage", and see what you think.]
(By Justin Gardner, The Moderate Voice, Nov. 28, 2005)
Are you ready to live forever?
[Kurzweil's 'Singularity' looks ahead to the day when science trumps biology]
(By Victor Godinez, Dallas Morning News, Nov. 25, 2005)
* Did matter-antimatter mix yield molecules?
[Allen Mills & colleagues of UC Riverside say they have seen telltale
signs of positronium molecules, made from two positronium atoms]
(By Philip Ball, Nature, Nov. 22, 2005)
* Geneticists claim ageing breakthrough but immortality will have to wait
[Valter Longo, a biomedical gerontologist at USC finds by blocking the genes
Sir2 & SCH9, organisms can live six times longer in laboratory tests.]
(By Ian Sample, The Guardian, UK, Nov. 18, 2005)
Powerful Inspiration [What makes one amazing invention any more groundbreaking
than another? Serial entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil says it¹s often a simple matter of
timing. But I also believe it¹s due to the very human motivations of its creator.]
(By Heather Clancy, CRN, Nov. 18, 2005)
Cochlear implants and transhumanism [The pre-nanotech state of the art, "bionics
is big and clunky: it works on the scale of millimeters. The body works at the level
of nanometers. We're not even close" to matching the body's capabilities and scale.]
(By Michael Chorost, 4HearingLoss News, Nov. 17, 2005)
* We're Doomed!: Could the Singularity, sci-fi's latest apocalyptic scenario, actually save us?
[Vernor Vinge: "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create
superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended... I think the
new era is simply too different to fit into the classical frame of good and evil...
God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension."]
(By Mick Farren, City Beat, Los Angeles, Nov. 16, 2005)
CMP Media's CRN Inducts Five Technology Innovators into the CRN Industry Hall of Fame
[Dr. James (Jim) Goodnight, Ray Kurzweil, Mike Lazaridis, Frank Mogavero, Atsutoshi Nishida]
(CRN Press Release, Yahoo! Financial News, Nov. 16, 2005)
Visionary Kurzweil Touts Technologies Of Tomorrow
[By 2010, Kurzweil said, computers will begin to disappear, and will be embedded in
the environment and in clothing and eyeglasses. By 2029, computation will move from
the device and become Web-centric. There'll be a worldwide mesh consisting of tiny
devices, nodes in clothing & environment, each sending & receiving their own messages.
(By Kevin McLaughlin, CRN, Nov. 16, 2005)
Unto us the Machine is born [By 2015 the internet as we know it will be dead, killed
by a globe-spanning artificial consciousness, writes founding Wired editor Kevin Kelly.]
(By Kevin Kelly, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, Nov. 15, 2005)
Link 'lost' with asteroid robot
[Japan's Hayabusa is hovering near asteroid Itokawa, in preparation to collect surface
samples for return to Earth, but has lost contact with its robotic probe Minerva.]
(By Paul Rincon, BBC News, UK, Nov. 14, 2005)
Wesley J. Smith: Is the world ready for a superboy - or a dogboy?
[Brave New World is rushing toward us at mach speed: Scientists have already created cloned
human embryos; a Stanford biotechnologist may bioengineer a mouse to have a human brain;
"designer babies" have already been created to provide stem cells for sick siblings.]
(Interview, Dallas Morning News, UK, Nov. 13, 2005)
'Artificial intelligence' gets smart ["If all the AI systems in the world suddenly
stopped functioning, our economic infrastructure would grind to a halt," Ray Kurzweil
wrote in The Singularity Is Near. "Your bank would cease doing business.
Most transportation would be crippled. World communications would fail."]
(By Robert S. Boyd, Pioneer Press, MN, Nov. 13, 2005)
* Can technology make us superhuman? [Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity Is Near"]
["By the end of this century, the non-biological portion of our intelligence will
be trillions of trillions of times more powerful than unaided human intelligence."]
(By Lynn Yarris, San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 13, 2005)
Archive
* Longer life span carries with it list of concerns
[Kurzweil says it's a realistic possibility. He foresees knowledge, memory,
analytical and computational skill, organizing capacity and other cerebral
functions stretching, too, as mind and machines merge... UCSF's Cynthia Kenyon
isolated genes in worm DNA that, when properly manipulated, allowed the creatures
to live six times longer than they do naturally— with full functions.]
(By Frank Bentayou, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 12, 2005)
* Flamebait: Is there only one outcome to life?
[Teilhard de Chardin thought that this complexity was leading to an Omega Point, a final state
where human consciousness would fuse and girdle the earth as layers of pure thought, a Noosphere.]
(By Keith Woolcock, The Telegraph, UK, Nov. 10, 2005)
* The future is nearly upon us [Bill Gates: "Ray Kurzweil is the best person I know at
predicting the future of artificial intelligence. His intriguing new book envisions a future
in which information technologies have advanced so far & fast that they enable humanity to
transcend its biological limitations— transforming our lives in ways we can't yet imagine."]
(By Diether H. Haenicke, Kalamazoo Gazette, Michigan, Nov. 9, 2005)
Lichens love life in space
[After 14 days of the Foton-M2 mission, the space-faring lichens were all
still alive, and their ability to photosynthesise had not diminished.]
(By Lucy Sherriff, The Register, UK, Nov. 9, 2005)
* Princeton astrophysicist to show 'baby pictures' of universe
[David Spergel uses the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), a telescope
that takes pictures of the universe as it looked more than 13 billion years ago.]
(By Krista Zala, Stanford Report, Nov. 9, 2005)
* IDEAS: A post-human Brave New World? [Kurzwil's The Singularity is Near]
[What kinds of unintended consequences can we expect from this reengineering
attempt to be "safer than biology," and who will take responsibility for them?]
(By Kim Vicente, Toronto Globe & Mail, Canada, Nov. 5, 2005)
Tweety the bird rescued by robot
[A robot built to disarm bombs was put to an unusual use
rescuing a pet bird from a Sydney apartment block.]
(BBC News, UK, Nov. 4, 2005)
* Adviser Soapbox: Moore's Law, Kurzweil And Telecosm Stocks
[As Ray Kurzweil points out (page 209), the ribosomes that translate DNA into
amino acids accomplish 250 million billion ³read² operations every second just in
manufacturing the hemoglobin that carries oxygen from the lungs to body tissues.]
(George Gilder, Gilder Technology Report, Forbes, Nov. 3, 2005)
The Thinking Culture: Ideals vs Idols [Excellence still isn't educated right
into the heart and root of the human spirit and this simple ideal is key as to
whether the latest round of globalization will be a dismal failure of human cause or
an improvement in human consciousness and a new phase of human development. In this
regard one has to be open minded as Ray Kurzweil in order to grasp future realities.]
(By Mark Zorro, AlwaysOn.com, Nov. 2, 2005)
Manhattan Projects for everyone! [Last month, high-profile, high-tech highbrows
Ray Kurzweil & Bill Joy penned a NY Times op-ed essay calling for "a new Manhattan Project"
to develop scientific defenses against biological viral threats, natural or human made.]
(By Alex Beam, Boston Globe, Nov. 1, 2005)
* Tribute to Robert Moog (1934-2005) [The Bob Moog I knew, however, wasn't focused
on his pivotal role in music history. He was motivated by his love for invention,
for applying electronics to music, and for interacting with the musicians who
used his technology. He had a rare combination of talents: an intuition for
signal processing and an equally clear sense of the language of music.]
(By Ray Kurzweil, Wired Magazine, 13.11, November, 2005)
* Wall Street's 'Brainwashing Machine':
10 psychological strategies controlling your mind
[Kurzweil's "happy talk" about the future is weak in the area of morals, ethics
and psychology. His optimism cannot erase reality. New "heights of intelligence,
material progress & longevity" may get mass-produced for us all. But that will also
mean they're available to global terrorists, psychopaths & the "Brainwashing Machine."]
(By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch.com, Oct. 31, 2005)
Good news, hey? [Kurzweil says, "It's important to note that once nonbiological
intelligence gets a foothold in our brains (a threshold we have already passed),
it will grow exponentially... by 2040, the non-biological portion of our
intelligence will be far more powerful than the biological portion."]
(By Michel Pireupireum, Business Day, South Africa, Oct. 28, 2005)
'Start of life' gene discovered
[Dr. Tim Karr of the University of Bath has found that the HIRA gene is
responsible for controlling a first key step in the creation of new life.]
(BBC News, UK, Oct. 27, 2005)
Stanford innovation helps 'enlighten' silicon chips for better use in electronics
[Professors David Miller & James Harris estimate that the modulator, which could be about
a millionth of a meter tall & about as long, could be made to operate at rates greater than
100 billion times a second, which is 50 times faster than the rate employed in computing
hardware today & as fast as the highest rates being considered for optical communications.]
(By David Orenstein, Stanford Report, Oct. 27, 2005)
Scientists find new method for creating high-yield single-walled carbon nanotubes
[Vertical carbon nanotubes blanket a silicon wafer to form a plush carpet. The diameter
of these hollow, single-walled fibers is 10,000 times smaller than that of a human hair.]
(By Anne Strehlow, Stanford Report, Oct. 26, 2005)
Renowned inventor and author comes to WMU
[Famed inventor & author Ray Kurzweil, will speak at Western Michigan University at 7 pm,
Thursday, Nov. 3, in Room 4010 of the College of Health and Human Services building.]
(By Kurt Haenicke, WMU News, Western Michigan University, Oct. 26, 2005)
The Future of Technology is Inside You‹Literally!
[Ray Kurzweil predicts that we'll be wearing technology in our clothes
and in our bodies. "Very soon, well be downloading software into our
bodies. We'll be able to download knowledge and skills."]
(By John Furrier, AlwaysOn, Oct. 25, 2005)
GPS researchers try to zero in on pinpoint accuracy
[Stanford University academics wants to make such navigation so accurate
that it could tell whether you are in your car or standing next to it.]
(By Dean Takahashi, San Jose Mercury News, Oct. 24, 2005)
* Surveillance Supremacy [David Brin writes in The Transparent Society, that
we have to come to terms with the new technological paradigm, which includes on the one
hand inexpensive weapons suitable to terrorists & on the other hand advanced apparatus
for surveillance, such as miniature cameras & computer databases... We have moved from
the age where military capability depended on air supremacy to an age where the key capability
is surveillance supremacy. Only a few— the Kurzweilians— seem to have noticed.]
(By Arnold Kling, Tech Central Station, Oct. 24, 2005)
Playing with fire [Publishing the 1918 Spanish Flu virus' genome
on a public Internet database, where it is available to scientists
seeking cures as well as terrorists bent on destruction, was foolhardy.]
(Opinion, IndyStar.com, Oct. 22, 2005)
* Nanobots Will Help Battle Ills In Future [Kurzweil interview]
[Computers already work hand in glove with humans. We will merge with this technology.
We'll put intelligent nanobots in billions of blood cell-size devices in our bloodstream to keep
us healthy & extend our mental functioning by directly interacting with our biological neurons.]
(By Brian Deagon, Investor Business Daily, Oct. 21, 2005)
* Accidental Invention Points to End of Light Bulbs
[Michael Bowers, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University shined a laser on some
quantum dots (crystals of a few nanometers), when a white glow covered the table.
When the dots were stirred into polyurethane and coated a blue LED light bulb,
it gave off a warm, yellowish-white light that shined twice as bright and
lasted 50 times longer than the standard 60 watt light bulb.]
(By Bjorn Carey, Live Science, Oct. 21, 2005)
* White-Light Emission from Magic-Sized Cadmium Selenide Nanocrystals
[The intrinsic properties of these ultra-small nanocrystals make them an
ideal material for applications in solid state lighting and also the
perfect platform to study the molecule-to-nanocrystal transition.]
(By Michael J. Bowers II, James R. McBride, & Sandra J. Rosenthal,
J. Am. Chem. Soc., Web Release: Oct. 18, 2005)
Rice scientists build world's first single-molecule car
['Nanocar' with buckyball wheels paves way for other molecular machines]
(By Jade Boyd, Rice University News, Oct. 20, 2005)
Nano-electronics boosted atom by atom
[Takahiro Shinada at Tokyo's Waseda University found a solution by adding
individual ions or dopants to semiconductors with nanoscale accuracy.]
(By Will Knight, New Scientist, Oct. 20, 2005)
Your Brain Remembers What You Forget
[Scientists at the Salk Institute are studying associative memory in monkeys.]
(By Bjorn Carey, Live Science, Oct. 20, 2005)
* The Age of Radical Enhancement [After I read Jeff Hawkins (inventor of the
Palm Pilot and author of On Intelligence), I became convinced that our bodies and
our sensory experiences are an integral part of our intelligence. Kurzweil thinks
of your brain as a computer programmed with a fancy pattern-recognition algorithm.
Eventually, he predicts, scientists & engineers will "reverse engineer" this algorithm.]
(By Arnold Kling, Tech Central Station, Oct. 19, 2005)
* Kurzweilomics [Kurzweil: "The law of accelerating returns is fundamentally an
economic theory. Contemporary economic theory and policy are based on outdated models."]
(By Arnold Kling, Tech Central Station, Oct. 18, 2005)
Dermal Display Gets Under the Skin
[A display implanted under the skin and run by robots the size of dust motes
could be the next best thing for checking your heart rate or cholesterol.]
(By Tracy Staedter, Discovery Channel, Oct. 18, 2005)
* Ray Kurzweil: Treating Machines As Living Entities
[If Ray Kurzweil's prediction comes true, that by 2050 or sooner, technology
advances so rapidly that machines with human self-awareness become a reality.
How do we treat these new beings? Are they alive? Do they have rights?]
(Posted by Eric Chabrow, Informationweek Blogs, Oct. 18, 2005)
* Kurzweil, Hawkins Offer Different Timetables On Development of Self-Aware Computers
[Kurzweil sees emotion-laden, self-aware machines being developed by mid-century.
Jeff Hawkins says, artificial beings will take centuries, not decades, to create.
The brain is just too complex to replicate that quickly. Emotional robots that
run amok, will remain science fiction for a very long time.]
(Posted by Eric Chabrow, Informationweek Blogs, Oct. 17, 2005)
* Robotic vehicle adapted human ways of learning
[Stanley had a vision system with 5 laser range finders and one video camera.
The lasers looked at the ground in front of the car, while the camera looked further
down the road. The motion sensors helped the vision system by telling when the car
was pitching up and down, allowing the vision system to correct for the movement.]
(By Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News, Oct. 17, 2005)
In a race for robotics
[High-tech entrepreneur Scott Jones, 44, who helped invent voice mail
hopes to establish a robotic vehicle business and industry in Indiana.]
(By Peter Schnitzler, Indianapolis Business Journal, Oct. 17, 2005)
Robotics department created in UST to nurture robot experts
[University of Science and Technology (UST) is creating a department
of robotics for the first time in Korea, is recruiting applicants for
the master of science and Ph.D. programs for the 2006 spring semester.]
(Korea.net, South Korea, Oct. 17, 2005)
Robotics, software aid learning
[Lego Robotics and other software programs can help children who
don't think sequentially or those who are visual and/or auditory
learners to use those tools for other areas of their studies.]
(By KURT D. SCHULTHEIS, Oct. 18, 2005)
* IT Renaissance Man Ray Kurzweil Expounds Far-Out Views
[By 2030, Kurzweil envisions a society where technology is embedded in
everything: our work tools, our clothing, and even inside our bodies.]
(Posted by Eric Chabrow, InformationWeekBlogs, Oct. 16, 2005)
* Find the Protein in the Haystack [Nanosphere is preparing to launch a diagnostic system
that uses nanoparticles to detect various proteins at a level of sensitivity never before seen.
It increases the sensitivity for detecting recognized proteins by six orders of magnitude.]
(By Sam Jaffe, Wired, Oct. 13, 2005)
* Paper view technology [Siemens unveils cheap, paper-thin
TV screens that can be used in newspapers and magazines.]
(By Katy Duke, Guardian, UK, Oct. 13, 2005)
* Progress at light speed: Ray Kurzweil
["Exponential growth looks like nothing is happening,
and then suddenly you get this explosion at the end."]
(By Gregory M. Lamb, USA Today, Oct. 12, 2005)
Nanotechnology targets new food packaging products
[Anti-microbial films, have already entered the market.]
(By Ahmed El Amin, Food Navigator, France, Oct. 12, 2005)
Brave new brain: Special report on the cutting-edge research in neuroscience
[Cognitive neuroscientists predicts a brain scan will be able to reveal our secrets.]
(Stanford Report, Oct. 12, 2005)
Stanford team's win in robot car race nets $2 million prize
[The autonomous robotic car traversed 132 desert miles in 6:53.]
(By David Orenstein, Stanford Report, Oct. 12, 2005)
* A nano minute, please! [Professor Anthony John Ryan]
[Machines that can reproduce themselves atom by atom are very
unlikely because the machines themselves will be made from atoms]
(By Francis Dass, New Straits Times, Malaysia, Oct. 12, 2005)
* Search Is FAR From Being Done
[Google's CEO Eric Schmidt says it might be 300 years before Google indexes all
the world's information and makes it searchable. I suspect we'll get to 99.9 %
within 30 years. Schmidt should read Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity is Near".]
(By Robert Scoble, WebProNews, Oct. 9, 2005)
* Harry Potter and the Attack of the Gray Goo [Joel Garreau's Radical Evolution
[What if they engineered nanobots that kept replicating and evolving until they broke
down the substance of every living thing, leaving the planet covered in gray goo?]
(By John Tierney Dallas Morning News, Oct. 9, 2005)
U.S. Military Moves Toward Networked War Model
[Daniel Zanini spoke in a keynote session on Day 2 of the second annual
RoboNexus conference, billed as the largest robotics event in North America.]
(By Chris Preimesberger, PC Magazine, Oct. 9, 2005)
The end of humanity is nigh [Ray Kurzweil's optimistic vision of the future
involves dazzling leaps in technology that will utterly transform man and the world.]
(Taipei Times, Oct. 9, 2005, Note: Reprint of NY Times Book Review, 10-3-2005)
Stanford takes first in DARPA Grand Challenge [With a finish time of 6:53,
the Stanford Racing Team beat Carnegie Mellon's Red Team (7:04)]
(Photo By David Orenstein, Stanford Report, Oct. 9, 2005)
Robot roll call: 'Stanley' first in DARPA desert race
["Stanley," a customized Volkswagen robot built by Stanford University,
crossed the finish line first in a robot race sponsored by the Pentagon.]
(Associated Press, ABC News, Oct. 8, 2005)
The men behind the unmanned vehicles
[Carnegie Mellon's William Whittacker & Stanford's Sebastian Thrun]
(By Matt Nauman, San Jose Mercury News, Oct. 8, 2005)
DARPA Grand Challenge an earthbound test for robotics visionaries
[Stanford's Sebastian Thrun said, his team's VW Touareg (named Stanley)
has now traveled 418 miles without a software error.]
(By Matt Nauman, Oct. 7, 2005)
NASA Develops Humanoid Robots for Future Space Missions
[Telebots will be commanded from earth or space stations to do a lot
of the dangerous hands-on work during future exploration missions.]
(By Chris Preimesberger, PC Magazine, Oct. 7, 2005)
Micro-organisms may be turned into nano-circuitry
[Kenneth Sandhage at Georgia Institute of Technology has devised ways
to convert the silica encasing diatoms into other electronic materials.]
(By Will Knight, New Scientist, Oct. 6, 2005)
New breed of 'fish-bot' unveiled [Prof. Huosheng Hu, Essex University:
"We want the fish to have the ability to look for its own charging station,
just like a real fish looking for food." Size of fish is 20"x6"x5"]
(By Alison Ross, BBC News, Oct. 6, 2005)
Industry Leaders Predict Surge in Robotics
[Robotics industry will experience "exponential growth" over the next decade,
due to an "explosion in new commercial and military application requirements."]
(By Chris Preimesberger, PC Magazine, Oct. 6, 2005)
2 Bay Area teams chosen for desert robotic-vehicle race
[The Stanford team, which uses a Volkswagen Touareg sport-utility as its computer-controlled
robotic vehicle, finished at or near the top in 4 qualifying runs. It finished a 2.3-mile course
in 9-11 minutes and passed through all 50 gates and avoided four or five obstacles in each run.]
(By Matt Nauman, San Jose Mercury News, Oct. 5, 2005)
Renovated lab in Geballe to be a collaborative hub for nanotechnology research
[Robert Sinclair, director of the Stanford Nanocharacterization Laboratory
says that the renovated lab will provid a synergy for students and researchers.]
(By David Orenstein, Stanford Report, Oct. 5, 2005)
* Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity is Near"
[Kurzweil thinking exponentially, imagines a plausible future, with extended life-spans
(living to 300), computing power in a head-sized device than exists in all the human brains]
(Posted by Hemos, Slashdot, By, Oct. 3, 2005)
* ON SCIENCE: Which way will technology take us?
[Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity Is Near" & Joel Garreau's "Radical Evolution"]
(By Anthony Doerr, Boston Globe, Oct. 2, 2005)
* BOOKS: Here It Comes [Review of Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near
[The Singularity is a term coined by futurists to describe that point in time
when technological progress has so transformed society that predictions made
in the present day, are likely to be very, very wide of the mark.]
(By Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 1, 2005)
* Ray Kurzweil interviewed - The Singularity is Near
[ItÕs a stunning, Utopian vision of the near future when machine intelligence outpaces
the biological brain & what things may look like when that happens in the next 30 years.]
(By Marc Orchant, The UnofficialMicrosoftWeblog, Sept. 30, 2005)
* Ray Kurzweil deciphers a brave new world
[He's busy inventing a future in which humans merge with machines and
the pace of technological development accelerates beyond recognition.]
(By Declan McCullagh, CNET News, Sept. 29, 2005)
* A 'Singular' Man, Ray Kurzweil Aims for Human Omnipotence
[Within decades, Kurzweil predicts, he will be billions of times more intelligent
than he is today, able to read minds, assume different forms, and reshape his physical
environment at will. So will everyone. TodayÕs human beings, mere quintessences of dust,
will be as outmoded as Homo Erectus. Kurzweil has a new project: to be a god.]
(By Drake Bennett, The MIT Tech, Sept. 27, 2005)
Robot cars get test run [Underdawg, a collection of college buddies
and high-tech work friends, is one of 43 teams competing in the military's
DARPA Grand Challenge, an attempt to "drive" an unmanned vehicle through
150 miles of desert in less than 10 hours.]
(By Matt Nauman, San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 27, 2005)
Can kids' brains be trained to pay attention?
[The brains of the 6-year-olds showed significant changes after the
computer training compared with untrained playmates who watched videos.]
(SiliconValley.com, Sept. 26, 2005)
Nanobots: It's No Nonsense
[The development of these cancer-detecting nanowires is a clear indicator
that nanotechnology is progressing in computing to biotechnology.]
(Posted by Kevin Ohannessian, Fast Company, Sept. 26, 2005)
* The age of Ray Kurzweil
[What will happen when technology outstrips human intelligence? Renowned
techno-visionary Ray Kurzweil says we won't have to wait long to find out.]
(By Drake Bennett, Boston Globe, Sept. 25, 2005)
* It's A Whole New Web: And this time around it will be built by you
[It's about doing: sharing, socializing, collaborating, & most of all, creating.]
(Business Week, Sept. 26, 2005)
* Visionary sees future when humans, tech will converge
[Ray Kurzweil, author of "The Singularity is Near" believes humans will evolve
into semi-mechanical beings who can alter their physical appearance at will.]
(By Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 25, 2005)
* Flash drives of the future: the next portable computers
[Your computer could someday be the same size as the remote-control clicker
you grab to unlock your car doors. USB flash drives are suddenly becoming smart.]
(By Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 21, 2005)
Hi-Tech Visionary Ray Kurzweil and Life Extension Expert Terry Grossman, M.D.
[Introduce Wholesale Longevity Supplement Line at Natural Products Expo East-
Washington, D.C.: Ray & Terry's Longevity Products.]
(Genetic Engineering News, Sept. 17, 2005)
New trigonometry is a sign of the times
[University of New South Wales math professor, Norman Wildberger, devised a new
framework which eliminated sines, cosines & tangents from doing trigonometry.]
(Science News, PhysOrg.com, Sept. 16, 2005)
'Bowtie nanoantennas' could shed light on molecules, other nano-sized objects
[The bowtie nanoantenna consists of two triangular pieces of gold separated by
a 20-nanometer gap. "One of our goals is to build a microscope with bowtie antennas
that we can scan over a single molecule," says Stanford Chemistry Prof. W.E. Moerne.]
(By Mark Shwartz, Stanford Report, Sept. 14, 2005)
* Silicon Alleys: Gnarly Computations For the Future
[If you really want the grit on how fast society is changing, Stanford University
will host a conference called "Accelerating Change 2005: Artificial Intelligence &
Intelligence Amplification; Transforming Technology, Empowering Humanity". Speakers
will include Ray Kurzweil (The Singularity Is Near) & Rudy Rucker (The Lifebox).]
(By Gary Singh, Metroactive, Sept. 14, 2005)
Researcher's work to compute how a brain 'sees' wins NSF award
[For his efforts to establish a quantitative framework aimed at describing
the complex workings of the human brain, Georgetown University Medical Center
neuroscientist Maximilian Riesenhube receives award of $742,000.]
(By Laura Cavender, Medical News Today, Sept. 14, 2005)
* A network smarter than people [Scientists at Bell Labs' India wing
in Bangalore are on the edge of delivering an artificial intelligence (AI)
that will fix all bugs in mobile networks, and never need human interference.]
(By Pragya Singh, Financial Express, India, Sept. 13, 2005)
Mac mini robot prototype revealed
[Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Artificial Intelligence Research
laboratory have built a Mac mini-powered robot, which uses iSight as its eyes.]
(By Macworld staff, Macworld, Sept. 13, 2005)
CATCHING UP WITH JOHN BATTELLE: Tech guru envisions future
with everything searchable [He co-founded Wired magazine and
founded the Industry Standard magazine. In his new book, Battelle
envisions that most objects we value, including our pets, will be
tagged with an electronic RFID chip & linked to a searchable database.]
(Interview with Michael Bazeley, San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 6, 2005)
* Google's chronicler searches out valley icon
[Tech Guru John Battelle explores implications of engine driving
Valley innovation in The Search: How Google and Its Rivals
Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture.]
(By Michael Bazeley, San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 6, 2005)
Mystical Wonders Metaphysical Community
[MysticWonders.org is a place for people to converse on topics such as:
Brain Training, Lucid Dreaming Machines, Quantum Physics, Transhumanism, etc.]
(Press Release, eMediaWire, Sept. 5, 2005)
Artificial intelligence to help intensive care doctors
[A team of systems engineers from the University of Sheffield is
developing an intelligent computer system which imitates a doctor's
brain to make treatment decisions for intensive care patients.]
(RxPG News, California, Sept. 4, 2005)
* Charles Stross interview [Discusses his novel Singularity Sky:
"Back in 2050, scientists working on artificial intelligence research succeeded
in triggering an outbreak of superintelligence— an AI singularity. opening
wormholes to other planets and forcibly deporting 90% of the earth's population."]
(By Stephen Hunt, SF Crowsnest.com, Aug. 30, 2005)
* Domestic robot to debut in Japan [A robot that recognises up to 10 faces
and understands 10,000 words is to be offered to Japanese consumers looking
for a high-tech helper in the house. Mitsubishi's Wakamaru humanoid is 1-meter
tall, weighs 30 kg (66 lb) and is expected to cost 1.58m yen (US$14,300).]
(BBC News, Aug. 30, 2005)
* US plans 'robot troops' for Iraq [US military is planning to deploy
robots armed with machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq.]
(BBC News, Aug. 30, 2005)
Artificial intelligence: the smart way to go
[Artificial intelligence" turns computer-controlled enemies into realistic combatants
in games such as the "Halo" series, and will become increasingly important in effective,
immersive game design, according to programming expert John Funge.]
(By Paul Hyman, Game Daily Biz, Aug. 26, 2005)
* Future Man: David Clemens * Monterey Peninsula College
[The focus of the class is an arcane theory, put forward by author
Vernor Vinge, which predicts that in 50 years the intelligence of
computers and other technology will surpass that of humans.]
(By Stuart Thornton, Monterey County Weekly, Aug. 25, 2005)
* Bradley Horowitz of Yahoo Builds the Super Network
[Artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky told his MIT class to come in with an idea
for how a computer could be made to "see" a photograph and identify its contents.]
(By Josh McHugh, MediaChannel.org, Aug. 24, 2005)
PsychTests Launches MatchScale, the Blueprint for Compatibility
[Created by an experienced team of psychologists & artificial intelligence experts
who have previously developed a compatibility test for one of the net's top dating
sites, it analyzes more attributes than any other test designed for matching couples.]
(Press Release, Market Wire, Aug. 24, 2005)
Robotic technique shows promise in performing complex weight-loss surgery
[Stanford surgeons have developed a safe and efficient way
to use a surgical robot to perform gastric bypass operations.]
(By Matthew Early Wright, Stanford Report, Aug. 23, 2005)
BOOKS: Future travelers journey into history in Joe Haldeman's "Old Twentieth"
[And everyone and everything, from the near immortals to the powerful A.I.,
want to explore their own humanity, whether it be through time travel or
assuming a human form inside the computer program.]
(By John Coffren / Baltimore Sun, Detroit News, Aug. 23, 2005)
* BOOK REVIEW: Accelerando Will Make Your Brain Hurt— In a Good Way
[Trying to "understand" Charles Stross's latest novel starts with something
called the Singularity. The Singularity is a point in the future where
technological progress and societal change produce such superhuman
intelligence that those who precede the event are unable to comprehend it.]
(By Tim Gebhart, Blogcritics.org, Aug. 22, 2005)
* BT looks into the future
[BT puts a date of 2029 for the much anticipated 'singularity point'
when computers become more intelligent than humans. If Moore's Law
still holds by then, they will be twice as intelligent by 2031.]
(By Steve Malone, PCPro, Aug. 22, 2005)
* Magazine Preview: The New World of AI [Red Herring shows you how AI has
invaded your daily life in the August 22 cover story, "AI Knows It's Out There".]
(Red Herring, Aug. 22, 2005)
* America's "eyes in the skies" [The military may not have mastered
artificial intelligence or created an all-talking, all-thinking Knight
Rider-style killing machine. But it is investing millions of dollars
in unmanned drones, which were deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.]
(By Brendan O'Neill, New Statesman, Aug. 22, 2005)
Nintendogs Sniff Opportunity [Using artificial intelligence, a built-in microphone, and a
touch screen, Nintendo's puppy responds to a player's voice & reacts to praise and discipline.]
(Red Herring, Aug. 22, 2005)
Extinction is the likely fate of Roboraptor
[Roboraptor springs to life with a roar, shaking his head and tail
from side to side, waving his tiny forearms, and stomping his feet.]
(By Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News, Aug. 22, 2005)
Light that travels faster than the speed of light
[Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne found that it is
possible to control the speed of light, both slowing & speeding it up.]
(Science Blog, Aug. 22, 2005)
Medicine & Machines: Robot makes history as surgical technology evolves.
[Inside her computer brain, artificial intelligence software kept track
of the implements to ensure none were misplaced and made predictions
about what tool the surgeon would ask for next.]
(By David Cho, Palm Beach Daily News, Aug. 21, 2005)
* How bots can earn more than you
[Software robots can already outperform people on
the stock markets, and that is just the beginning]
(By Duncan Graham-Rowe, New Scientist, Aug. 20, 2005)
* Speed of light made faster
[Swiss researchers have successfully demonstrated for the first time
that it is possible to control the speed of light in an optical fiber]
(United Press International, Science Daily, Aug. 19, 2005)
New Imaging Technology Shown To Detect Pancreatic Inflammation In Type 1 Diabetes
[The magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) become concentrated at the inflamed site
and can be spotted by high-resolution MRI at the Massachusetts General Hospital.]
(By Joslin Diabetes Center, Science Daily, Aug. 19, 2005)
Startup Sees Promise in Virus
[Mike Knapp's biotech startup Cambrios Technologies uses microscopic
viruses to create artificial proteins to manufacture electronic devices.]
(By Joanna Glasner, Wired News, Aug. 19, 2005)
Strong, transparent nanotube sheets hold great promise
[University of Texas scientists say the sheets are stronger than steel]
(SiliconValley.com, Aug. 19, 2005)
Daisy has all the digital answers to life on Earth
[Digital Automated Identification System (Daisy), which harnesses the latest
advances in artificial intelligence and computer vision, will have an enormous
impact on research into biodiversity and evolution.]
(By Alok Jha, The Guardian, UK, Aug. 19, 2005)
* Daisy has all the digital answers to life on Earth
[The Digital Automated Identification System (Daisy), which harnesses
the latest advances in artificial intelligence and computer vision,
will have an enormous impact on research into biodiversity and evolution.]
(By Alok Jha, The Guardian, UK, Aug. 18, 2005)
DIVING DEEP INTO THE WEB: Pair's Search Engine Scours 'Hidden Sites'
[Julia Komissarchik & her father Edward's San Mateo start-up Glenbrook Networks—
Glenbrook's Web crawlers use artificial intelligence to walk themselves
through sometimes complex Web forms, answering questions, such as the
location of their desired job, in the same way a human would.]
(By Michael Bazeley, San Jose Mercury News, Aug. 17, 2005)
Long Bar at Milky Way's heart revealed
[The Milky Way is not a perfect spiral galaxy but instead sports a long
bar through its centre, according to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.]
(By Maggie McKee, New Scientist, Aug. 16, 2005)
* Chemistry: Carbon nanotubes as multifunctional biological transporters
and near-infrared agents for selective cancer cell destruction
[Transporting capabilities of carbon nanotubes combined with suitable
functionalization chemistry and their intrinsic optical properties can lead
to new classes of novel nanomaterials for drug delivery and cancer therapy.]
(By Nadine Wong Shi Kam, Michael O'Connell, Jeffrey A. Wisdom, & Hongjie Dai,
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., Vol. 102, 11600-11605, Aug. 16, 2005)
* What is Evil? [The more humanlike robots get, the more I worry about
Rucker's Law, that SF author Rudy Rucker lays out in his "live robots" books?
Put simply, it holds that the more robots feel like human beings, the closer they
are to fomenting revolution and starting a separatist robot colony on the moon.]
(By Annalee Newitz, AlterNet, Aug. 16, 2005)
* Is Singularity Near?
[Game theorist James Miller reviews a thought-provoking book by Ray Kurzweil
entitled The Singularity Is Near today at Tech Central Station.]
(By James Joyner, Aug. 16, 2005)
* Where I'd Bet Against Kurzweil
[Leaving out the too-easy predictions, the typical prediction that Kurzweil
made in 1999 ought to be about 1/4 of the way to coming true by now.]
(By Arnold Kling, TCS: Tech Central Station, Aug. 16, 2005)
* The Singular Sensation
[The regular doubling of computing power means computers will quickly reach
human equivalence. Kurzweil estimates this will happen by the early 2030s.]
(By James D. Miller, TCS: Tech Central Station, Aug. 15, 2005)
Y-shaped nanotubes are ready-made transistors
[Silicon transistors have been shrunk to around 100 nanometres,
the Y-shaped nanotubes measure just tens of nanometres in size.]
(By Will Knight, New Scientist, Aug. 15, 2005)
PKD Android Featured On The Science Channel
[The robot sits in a room within a room, together composing a 1970's
apartment environment, comfortable and inviting... Philip K Dick
sits on a sofa, hosting conversations with visitors who enter.]
(By Mortimer, Disinformation, Aug. 15, 2005)
* Thin skin will help robots 'feel' [Takao Someya & researchers
at the University of Tokyo have developed a flexible artificial
skin that could give robots a humanlike sense of touch.]
(BBC News, Aug. 30, 2005)
Artificial intelligence to help intensive care doctors
[Engineers from the University of Sheffield (UK) is developing
an intelligent computer system which imitates a doctor's brain
to make treatment decisions for intensive care patients.]
(I-Newswire.com Press Release, Aug. 14, 2005)
The Purpose of Conferences?
[Pro-technology futurists, like transhumanists and healthy life extension advocates -
or actual scientists performing actual work - are largely self-organizing.]
(Posted By Reason, Fight Aging, Aug. 14, 2005)
* Group envisions high-tech humans
[Transhumanists foresee future where people have
brain chips, mechanical limbs to extend abilities.]
(By William Weir, Hartford Courant, Aug. 14, 2005)
* Explore in All Directions With Quantum Spirituality
[Singularity is beyond matter and energy. Similarly, quantum
spirituality is beyond material and spiritual lives. You need
to be both in the horizontal and vertical lines simultaneously.]
(By Paramahamsa Nithyananda, Times of India, Aug. 13, 2005)
* Spotting the bots with brains
[Shane Legg and Marcus Hutter at the Swiss Institute for Artificial Intelligence
in Manno-Lugano have drafted an alternative test that will allow the intelligence
of vision systems, robots, natural language processing programs or trading agents
to be compared and contrasted despite their broad and disparate functions.]
(New Scientist, Aug. 13, 2005)
How do extraterrestrial UFOs cross the blackhole point of singularity
to visit our physical universe from the parallel universe
[The answer lies in controlling and manipulating the gravity waves
within the Blackhole. The advanced alien civilizations have mastered
the process known as gravity wave neutralization across universes.]
(By India Daily Technology Team, India Daily, Aug. 12, 2005)
* IBM Computers to Create Virtual Brain
[The question has been proposed: When will computer hardware rival
the human brain? In the 1980's futurist Vernor Vinge popularized the
notion of a technological singularity where AI will one day overtake
the human brain and even foil any attempt to comprehend its complexity.]
(By David Worthington, GameShout Radio Network, Aug. 11, 2005)
* We Can Build You
[Frankenstein's Monster lives on in the works of 15 women artists
at the San Jose Museum of Art's new show about creation and horror.]
(By Richard von Busack, Metro, San Jose, Aug. 10, 2005)
* Divine Evolution [If evolution, as 99% at least of all scientists who have
studied biology agree, is quite capable of producing all the lifeforms of the
world without outside intervention in the process, what need is there for God?
The awkward issue is what some some cosmologists call the "goldilocks" problem.]
(By Frederick Turner, TSC: Tech Central Station, Aug. 10, 2005)
* 'Thoughts read' via brain scans
[Scientists say they have been able to monitor
people's thoughts via scans of their brains]
(BBC News, Aug. 7, 2005)
* Entertaining Alternatives and Geniuses
[SupernaturalMinds.com
by Stephen E. Palmer, offers brief, informative articles about
many frontier and alternative science topics, such as transhumanism & free energy.]
(Posted By Crabbee, Science Blog, Aug. 7, 2005)
* The age of artificial intelligence
[Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University invents Repilee Q1 with flexible silicone
for skin and over 30 sensors that allows her to move in a human-esqe manner.]
(By Jeff Edelstein, The Trentonian, NJ, Aug. 5, 2005)
* 'Cheap' genome sequencing now possible
[Researchers said they had found a faster and cheaper way to sequence
your own personal genome that would cost only about $2.2 million.]
(CNN.com, Aug. 5, 2005)
* Technology: Remote-Controlled Humans
[Electrical stimulation is known as galvanic vestibular stimulation, or GVS.
When a weak DC current is delivered to the mastoid behind your ear,
your body responds by shifting your balance toward the anode.]
(By Leah Hoffmann, Forbes, Aug. 4, 2005)
Quantum information can be negative
[Drs Michal Horodecki, Jonathan Oppenheim, and Andreas Winter
publishes work in Nature, August 4, 2005]
(Physorg.com, Aug. 4, 2005)
Quantum information can be negative
[Based on work with M. Horodecki, and A. Winter]
(By Jonathan Oppenheim , Aug. 4, 2005)
World's first canine clone is revealed
[South Korea's Woo Suk Hwang has successfully cloned an Afghan hound.]
(By Rowan Hooper, New Scientist, Aug. 3, 2005)
World's artificial intelligence experts gather for Edinburgh conference
[Utah Prof. Stephen Jacobsen & UC Prof. Alison Gopnik to speak Aug. 3-5]
(Scotsman.com News, Aug. 3, 2005)
Kurzweil on Achieving Immortality Through Technology
[In the near future blood cell sized robots called nanobots
will travel our bloodstreams making repairs.]
(Posted by Reason, Fight Aging!, Aug. 2, 2005)
'Robo-doc' to treat seriously ill
[An intelligent computer system imitates doctors' decisions about
treatment for intensive care patients is being developed by scientists.]
(BBC News, Aug. 2, 2005)
Nanotech-laser kills cancer, preserves healthy cells
[PNAS paper by Hongjie Dai, associate professor of chemistry at Stanford]
(By Mark Shwartz, Stanford Report, Aug. 2, 2005)
Nanotechnology kills cancer cells
[Stanford's Dr. Hongjie Dai used carbon nanotubules under a near-infra red
laser beam to kill cancer cells without harming normal cells.]
(BBC News, Aug. 2, 2005)
* BRIDES OF FRANKENSTEIN: San Jose Museum of Art (7/31-10/30/2005)
[In "Brides of Frankenstein", the artists are the Òbrides." As metaphorical
consorts of Mary Shelley's fictional, and archetypal, Dr. Victor Frankenstein,
they engender lifelike creatures. Their projects incorporate critiques of the
unreflective hubris that motivated Dr. Frankenstein, and explore the profound
social, cultural and moral issues his activities raise.]
(SFStation Events, July 31, 2005)
* San Jose Museum Presents Brides of Frankenstein
[Guest curated by Marcia Tanner, Brides of Frankenstein is an exhibition of
experimental work by a new generation of female artists working with video,
electronics, robotics, the Internet, computer games and animation, and other
digital and traditional media to animate synthetic creatures with virtual life.
Presenting visually and conceptually compelling pieces by approximately 15
artists, the exhibition runs from July 31, 2005 through October 30, 2005.]
(Artdaily.com, July 29, 2005)
* Visionary Jeff Hawkins blends PDAs, cellular phones
[PalmPilot creator imagines bringing brain capabilities to technological products]
(Portland Business Journal, July 29, 2005)
Maker of robotic vacuum to go public
[iRobot's president, Helen Greiner seeks $115m for acquisitions & development]
(By Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe, July 28, 2005)
* Japanese develop 'female' android [Japanese scientists have unveiled
the most human-looking robot yet— a "female" android named Repliee Q1Expo.]
(By David Whitehouse, BBC News, July 27, 2005)
* Health: Medicine's High-Tech Future Is Here
[A tiny microchip embedded in a patient's shoulder that contains data on
their identity & where to access their medical record in case of emergency.]
(By Amanda Gardner, Forbes, July 27, 2005)
Bionic Knee Uses Artificial Intelligence
[Scuba Diving Instructor Touts Prosthetic Device For Active People]
(10News.com, San Diego, CA, July 25, 2005)
* AlwaysOn Network 2005 Innovation Summit: "The Giant Brain is US!"
[Teilhard de Chardin posited the Omega Point the culmination
of the transformation of the Biosphere into the Noosphere]
(By William Luciw, AlwaysOn Network, July 25, 2005)
Butterfly unlocks evolution secret
[Why one species branches into two is a question that
has haunted evolutionary biologists since Darwin.]
(By Julianna Kettlewell, BBC News, July 24, 2005)
Stanford's robotic car competes for $2M
[The Stanford Racing Team began programming the car in July 2004 using
Global Positioning System sensors, a radar system, cameras and other
features to help it detect its surroundings and maneuver around them.]
(By Mandy Kovach, Stanford Daily, July 21, 2005)
Riot control ray gun worries scientists
[Scientists are questioning the safety of a Star Wars-style
riot control ray gun due to be deployed in Iraq next year.]
(By Reuters, c|net.news.com, July 20, 2005)
Artificial Intelligence Aids Consumers Finding the Best Auto Warranty Plans
[Based on artificial intelligence, the quote engine analyzes a vehicle's and owner's
characteristics and weighs this against thousands of security policies based on price,
coverage, term, and options to determine the best valued policies for the consumer.]
(PRWeb Press Release, July 20, 2005)
* Darwin and Design: The Evolution of a Flawed Debate
[The controversy over intelligent design and evolution is, like many
current quarrels, largely artificial, a proxy fight between atheists and
biblical literalists over the existence and nature of a divine authority
and the desirability of state authority as a replacement for it.]
(By Frederick Turner, TSC: Tech Central Station, July 14, 2005)
* Computer scientists focus on developing programs that can learn game rules
["Programs that think better should be able to win more games," wrote
Michael Genesereth, computer science professor with the Stanford Logic Group]
(By Kendall Madden, Stanford Report, July 13, 2005)
Racing Team's enhanced Touareg makes it to semifinals of robotic car race
[Laying the groundwork for future innovations in automotive safety and
advance knowledge in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence.]
(By Latice Strickland, Stanford Report, July 13, 2005)
* Research on the brain was always in the back of his head
[PalmPilot inventor Jeff Hawkins now focusing on brain]
(By Janet Rae-Dupree, Business Journal, July 8, 2005)
* Q & A— Jeff Hawkins: From building Palm to developing the brain
[Hawkins juggles three top-line posts— chief technology officer of PalmOne,
founder of Numenta and founder/director of Redwood Neuroscience Institute.]
(By Janet Rae-Dupree, Business Journal, July 8, 2005)
* Hope Springs Eternal: Can nutritional supplements, biotechnology
and nanotechnology help us live forever?
[Skeptical view of Kurzweil's 250 supplements a day anti-aging program.]
(By Michael Shermer, Scientific American, July 2005)
I Miss the Future
[Household chores would be performed by domestic robots. Flying cars
would speedily transport people from one streamlined city to another.]
(By Bob Newbell, TCS: Tech Central Station, June 27, 2005)
Molecular electronics: Some views on transport junctions and beyond
[Electronic response of molecules as parts of a mesoscopic structure
and a technology-facing area of science]
(By Christian Joachim and Mark A. Ratner, PNAS, Vol. 102, 8801-8808, June 21, 2005)
The Man with the Bionic Ear
[Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human is a fascinating memoir
of Michael Chorost's experiences in becoming and living as what he calls a "cyborg."]
(By Kenneth Silber, TCS: Tech Central Station, June 13, 2005)
The Real Intelligent Designers
[No serious scientist believes the literal Biblical creation account, but many
earnest and well-credentialed scientists do believe in Intelligent Design (ID),
as a perspective on evolution. And ID, of course, is religiously inspired.]
(By James Pinkerton, TCS: Tech Central Station, June 9, 2005)
* Robotics: Grow Up!
[I propose that we officially retire the term "robot."]
(By Lance Ulanoff, PC Magazine, June 8, 2005)
iRobot co-founder's perseverance pays off
[Helen Greiner shows off the iRobot PackBot EOD, which is designed
to dispose of explosives and conduct other vital law enforcement tasks.]
(By Mark Jewell, USA Today, June 1, 2005)
* Evolution's Poker Hand
[Vocal proponents and critics of genetic engineering both tend to assume that the
technology is on the verge of transforming humanity. But the practical difficulties
of achieving the hoped-for or feared transformation are too often overlooked.]
(By Kenneth Silber, TCS: Tech Central Station, May 31, 2005)
Latest buzz words in science: Robot swarms
[Robots, linked by a common network, roam the land. When one unit discovers something,
they all know it instantly. They use artificial intelligence to carry out their mission.]
(By Gregory M. Lamb, USA Today, May 19, 2005)
Move over, Herbie ["This is the first endurance race in history
where the machine will have to make all the decisions," said Sebastian Thrun,
associate professor of computer science and leader of the Stanford Racing Team.]
(By Hannah Hickey, Stanford Report, May 18, 2005)
Engineering: Controlled fabrication of hierarchically branched nanopores, nanotubes, and nanowires
[These nanostructures include carbon nanotubes and metallic
nanowires having several hierarchical levels of multiple branching.]
(By Guowen Meng, Yung Joon Jung, Anyuan Cao, Robert Vajtai, and Pulickel M. Ajayan,
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., Vol. 102, 7074-7078, May 17, 2005)
San Jose Museum of Art Presents "Brides of Frankenstein"
[They exemplify the world we live in now, where contemporary digital, medical,
and biological technologies including the technologies of image-making & reproduction
are dissolving age-old distinctions between what's alive & what's not, what's conscious
& what's not, what's human & what's not, and what's "natural" versus what's "cultural."]
(Press Release, San Jose Museum of Art, May 12, 2005)
RoboBusiness (and Robots) Focus on Military
[RoboBusiness Conference in Cambridge, MA, attracted 630 attendees.]
(By Lance Ulanoff, PC Magazine, May 11, 2005)
Germans having their way at robotic soccer competition
[Aim is to develop software for better robots with the long-term goal
of fielding a robot soccer team good enough to play a human team by 2050.]
(By Eliott C. Mclaughlin, USA Today, May 10, 2005)
* Professor believes software can determine quality work
[Ed Brent with AI postdoctoral degree, designed software to grade students' essays]
(By Matt Sedenksy, USA Today, May 8, 2005)
Wal-Mart Tests Robots for Blind Shoppers
[The robotÑnamed RG, for Robotic Guide, weighs 22 lbs.— is the creation of
Vladimir Kulyukin, assistant professor of computer science at Utah State University.]
(By Evan Schuman, Ziff Davis Internet, PC Magazine, May 6, 2005)
* Ahead of Their Time
[Peter E. Glaser, Alexander Luria, René Dubos, & Valerie L. Thomas are
four people whose ideas could have a major impact in the 21st century & beyond]
(By Kenneth Silber, TCS: Tech Central Station, May 4, 2005)
* Inventing Intelligence: Jeff Hawkins on How to Build a Functioning Brain
[Jeff Hawkins: From the interactions of 30 billion neurons in the
human neo-cortex come all your ideas, memories, knowledge and skills.]
(By Mary Crowley, New York Academy of Sciences, April 30, 2005)
* Action robot to copy human brain [Aberystwyth University's Prof. Mark Lee
aims to "unravel" how a part of the brain works and would then use that
information to develop a new robot which will think for itself.]
(By David Whitehouse, BBC News, April 29, 2005)
* Brain scan 'sees hidden thoughts'
[Dr. Geraint Rees: "This is the first basic step to reading somebody's mind."]
(BBC News, April 25, 2005)
* Spiked, an independent online publication based in London, asked 250 scientists
to name the one thing everyone should learn about science. The Guardian published
the answers April 7, including a statement from JOHN McCARTHY, professor emeritus
of computer science. "Find the numbers, and compare them," said McCarthy,
who invented the term "artificial intelligence." McCarthy: "As the physicist
Lord Kelvin said in 1883, in a lecture to the Institution of Civil Engineers,
'When you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers,
you know something about it, but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot
express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind.'"
(In Print and On the Air, Stanford Report, April 13, 2005)
NASA turning nanobot swarm from fiction into science
[This tetrahedral walker is the start of a concept that could
have tiny, simple robots rolling in waves and joining forces.]
(By Robert C. Cowen, USA Today, April 7, 2005)
* Jeff Hawkins "spins out" Redwood Institute as Numenta
[Dileep George, a Stanford University graduate student who has worked with Hawkins
in translating his theory into software, is joining the firm as a co-founder.]
(Posted By rohit, The Now Economy, March 24, 2005)
* The Lifebox, the Seashell and the Soul
[Powerpoint Presentation: ICFA Science Talk]
(By Rudy Rucker, www.rudyrucker.com, March 18, 2005)
Revolutionary bike 'too quiet'
[The world's first purpose-built hydrogen-powered bike could be fitted with
an artificial "vroom" because of worries its silence might be dangerous.]
(BBC News, March 16, 2005)
* Underground search for 'God particle'
[A circular tunnel runs for 27 km (17 miles) under the French-Swiss border at
CERN where the Large Hadron Collider seeks unlock the secrets of the Universe.]
(By Paul Rincon, BBC News, Feb. 4, 2005)
* Jeff Hawkins on the Brain
[The human neocortex is a big pattern-matching machine.]
(By Aaron Swartz, Weblog, Jan. 23, 2005)
* Ultimate Retro: Modern echoes of the early universe
[The early universe rang like a bell, notes Princeton's David Spergel.]
(By Ron Cowen, Science News, Jan. 18, 2005)
* 'Living' robots powered by muscle
[UCLA scientists create tiny robots powered by
"growing" rat cells on microscopic silicon chips.]
(By Roland Pease, BBC News, Jan. 17, 2005)
Developing a new kind of chemistry
[VCU & Penn State researchers create a "superatom"
of clustered aluminum molecules tailor-made to mimic iodine]
(By A. J. Hostetler, Richmond TimesDispatch, VA, Jan. 14, 2005)
Chemistry: An agent-based approach for modeling molecular self-organization
[The concepts of intelligent merging and splitting can be used to extend simulation
schemes different from MC and to perform off-lattice simulations of realistic systems.]
(By Alessandro Troisi, Vance Wong, and Mark A. Ratner, PNAS, Vol. 102, 255-260, Jan. 11, 2005)
* Building a Smarter Search Engine
[Raul Valdes-Perez of Carnegie Mellon University uses artificial intelligence
in designing a new search tecnology called Vivisimo's Clusty to organize results.]
(By Heather Green, Business Week, Jan. 11, 2005)
* The Cosmic Yardstick— Astronomers measure role of dark matter,
dark energy and gravity in the distribution of galaxies
[The early Universe was smooth and homogeneous, quite a contrast from
the clumpy array of galaxies and clusters of galaxies observed today]
(Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Jan. 11, 2005)
First direct sighting of an extrasolar planet
[More than 130 planets have been detected indirectly orbiting stars other than our sun.
Now, astronomers have found a planet orbiting 7.5 billion kms around a brown dwarf star.]
(By Maggie McKee, New Scientist, Jan. 11, 2005)
Gene clue to HIV origin in humans
[Scientists say they have uncovered an important clue
to understanding the origins of the Aids epidemic.]
(BBC News, Jan. 10, 2005)
A Morse code for human cells
[Prof. Michael White of Liverpool University: "It seems that cells may read the
oscillations in level of transcription factors in a similar way to Morse code."]
(BBSRC, UK, Jan. 10, 2005)
Wow Wee Dictates Real-Life Robots
[Emboldened by its success with the Robosapien, Wow wee is rolling out new robotic
and automation products. Along with the Roboraptor and Robopet, Wow wee will ship
a new speech-enabled interface & the most lifelike monkey robot head for under $150.]
(By Lance Ulanoff, PC Magazine, Jan. 7, 2005)
* Roboshark to hunt tourists [The world's only robotic shark
swam with wild sharks while carrying a movie camera on its head.]
(By Julianna Kettlewell, BBC News, Dec. 31, 2004)
* From Robot Olympiads to the World Year of Physics
[Robot Olympics, Star Wars Technology, Nanotech Outreach, Cow Genome Initiative]
(By Kenneth Silber, TCS: Tech Central Station, Dec. 30, 2004)
* 'We will be able to live to 1,000'
["If changing our world is playing God, it is just
one more way in which God made us in His image."]
(By Dr Aubrey de Grey, University of Cambridge, BBC News, Dec. 3, 2004)
* 'Don't fall for the cult of immortality'
[In their book "Fantastic Voyage" by the techno-guru Ray Kurzweil & physician
Terry Grossman, they claim unabashedly that the science of radical life extension
is already here, and that all we have to do is "live long enough to live forever".]
(By S. Jay Olshansky PhD, BBC News, UK, Dec. 3, 2004)
* ASIMO, world1s most advanced humanoid robot, to visit Stanford University
[Thurs. & Fri. Dec. 2-3, 2:30 pm-3 pm; Sat. Dec. 4, 11:30 am-noon, 2 pm-2:30 pm]
(Events at Stanford,
Memorial Auditorium, Dec. 2-4, 2004)
Astronaut's eyes may become windows on the bloodstream
[University of Michigan esearchers are using a combination of nanoparticles and
ultrafast pulsed laser to see individual cells as they zip past in the bloodstream]
(PhysOrg.com, Nov. 29, 2004)
Nanotechengineering to make big splash in sports [In 2005 NanoDynamics
plans to sell a nanotech golf ball that promises to dramatically reduce
hooks and slices for even the most frustrated of weekend golfers.]
(The Desert Sun, CA, Nov. 29, 2004)
Surgical chip shows patient info
[Florida orthopedic surgeon Bruce Waxman has invented SurgiChip,
a computerized label designed to help prevent hospital errors]
(SiliconValley.com, Nov. 29, 2004)
Robots are being developed to help people, not replace them
[American Honda Motor Co. is touring the country with the company's Asimo robot,
visiting schools to spread awareness of careers in the robotics industry.]
(By Victor Godinez, The Dallas Morning News, Nov. 28, 2004)
World's most dangerous idea? [Transhumanists want to liberate
the human race from its biological constraints and they say this
will be possible by using advances being made in biotechnology.]
(By Andy Clark, Radio Netherlands, Netherlands, Nov. 26, 2004)
Researchers align nanotubes to improve artificial joints
[Researchers at Purdue University mimicked the alignment of
collagen fibers and natural ceramic crystals in real bones.]
(PhysOrg.com, Nov. 23, 2004)
Cognitive Freedom Fighter [With brain implants and memory erasure becoming
reality, Wrye Sententia is bringing constitutional rights into your head]
(By Shannon Foskett, Better Humans, Nov. 23, 2004)
* Cyborg astrobiologist steps forward
[A team of researchers from Spain and Germany have tested a prototype
cyborg astrobiologist that does the same job as a human geologist.]
(By Heather Catchpole, ABC Online, Nov. 23, 2004)
* On Intelligence, People and Computers
[In On Intelligence, Jeff Hawkins believes that by studying the architecture of
the brain we can learn better ways to build intelligent machines. Accordingly, his book
tries to provide the reader with a state-of-the-art view of how the brain functions.]
(By Arnold Kling, TCS: Tech Central Station, Nov. 22, 2004)
Secret Speech Aid [NASA engineers are developing technology that picks up and
translates throat signals into words before they're even spoken, using subvocal speech]
(By Stacey Young, ScienCentral News, Nov. 19, 2004)
* Artificial Intelligence (AI)
[Key points, What is AI?, Man & machine, Robot future]
(BBC.co.uk, Nov. 16, 2004)
* Clear Pictures of How We Think [Functional magnetic-resonance imaging,
or fMRI allows the measurement of the level of oxygen in the blood,
and tells tory_id_key=6519>
Soldiers glimpse future capabilities
[Using nanotechnology, scientists envision the Soldier of the future in a
battle uniform that can stop or slow bullets & other projectiles, repel water,
monitor health and automatically deliver medicines to treat injuries.]
(By Sgt. Lorie Jewell, Army News Service, Nov. 3, 2004)
New vision for automation
[Machine vision can offer major flexibility gains to manufacturers employing
automation and robotics in their operations, but many manufacturers are shying
away from the technology, having had bad experiences in the past.]
(By Zoe Fielding, Ferret - Australia, Nov. 5, 2004)
FANUC Robotics America Sponsors 'Save Your Factory' Initiative
[American manufacturing competitiveness and halt the continued
erosion of manufacturing jobs to low-wage countries such as China]
(Yahoo News, USA, Nov. 4, 2004)
* Human Enhancement on the Agenda
[From bioethicists to nanotech geeks, the enhancement debate is stirring the pot]
(By James Hughes, Betterhumans, Nov. 1, 2004)
* Should We Fear 'Cosmetic Neurology'
[Although we should seek to stop athletes from enhancing their performance pharmaceutically,
we should let individuals decided whether to artificially boost their own brainpower.]
(By James D. Miller, TCS: Tech Central Station, Oct. 29, 2004)
* Computer Chips and Brain Power
[Sensor chip implant in the brain of a 25-year-old quadriplegic
in a wheelchair— with wires connecting his brain to a compute]
(By Mark Lerner, Earth Aquarius News, Oct. 11, 2004)
* Transhumanism: The Most Dangerous Idea?:
Why striving to be more than human is human
[How ironic that Francis Fukuyama, author of The End of History and the Last Man,
now spends his time demonizing transhumanism, a nascent philosophical and political
movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic
aspirations of humanity. The author feels that the greatest threat to the welfare
of humanity: Banning technological progress in the name of "humility."]
(By Ronald Bailey, Reason Online, August 25, 2004)
* A Spinach-Powered Laptop?
[MIT researchers have made solar cells powered by spinach proteins.
These prototype solar cells which transform light into 'green' energy
could be used one day to coat and power your laptop]
(By Roland Piquepaille, Radio.Weblogs.com, June 28, 2004)
* Live Long— and Prosper?
[A doubling of the biblical threescore-and-ten is certainly not beyond reason.]
(By Glenn Harlan Reynolds, TCS: Tech Central Station, June 16, 2004)
* Protein Power: Solar cell produces electricity from spinach and bacterial proteins
[MIT's Marc Baldo harvested photosynthetic proteins from spinach.]
(By Alexandra Goho, Science News, June 5, 2004)
* A Nanotechnology Turnaround?
[What's important is that the industry take a role in helping people in general
distinguish between the real and the fictional, and in helping them to understand
the upsides of nanotechnology, both near-term and advanced.]
(By Glenn Harlan Reynolds, TCS: Tech Central Station, May 26, 2004)
* Dark Doings: Searching for signs of a force that may be everywhere or nowhere
[Whether it's dark energy that rules the universe or a kind of gravity
that goes beyond what Einstein had imagined remains to be seen.]
(By Ron Cowen, Science News, May 22, 2004)
* Inaugural Article: Biography of Mark A. Ratner
[Molecules could act as electronic circuit components; co-author with
son of Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea]
(By Emma Hitt, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. Vol. 101, 7213-7214, May 11, 2004)
Robotics Revolution [Notable for its ultra-low price
and anime-style body, the $199 Wowee Robosapian humanoid robot
can walk, pick up light objects and do other sundry tricks.]
(By Lance Ulanoff, PC Magazine, Dec. 3, 2003)
* Profile of John Wheeler
[Black Holes & Conversations with Bohr and Einstein]
(By Paul Davies, The Science Show, Sept. 13, 2003)
* VIEW | HOT SEAT: Why A.I. Is Brain-Dead
[There is no computer that has common sense.]
(By Marvin Minsky, Wired, Issue 11.08, August 2003)
* Will Genetic Engineering Kill Us? [Bioethicists and scientists contemplating
the future fear that genetic engineering and other technologies are going to divide
human beings into classes that may one day try to destroy one another. Rich, powerful
people will use technology to make their kids smarter. The poor and the disenfranchised,
will become a subhuman servant class, like the Yahoos in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
If humans create an offshoot of their own species, said evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis,
that act would represent a dramatic turning point in the evolution of homo sapiens.]
(By Mark Baard, Wired News, April 16, 2003)
* The Future Needs Us! [Review of Michael Crichton's thriller Prey
on nanorobots & summary of his 2001 Davos debate with Bill Joy on future
technology. Dyson quotes John Milton's Areopagitica on intellectual vitality.]
(By Freeman J. Dyson, New York Review of Books, Feb. 13, 2003)
* A Theory of Evolution, for Robots [Krister Wolff and Peter Nordin, two scientists
at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, have designed a winged robot capable
of learning flight techniques. Their robot is equipped with small motors allowing it to
manipulate its meter-long, balsa-wood wings in different directions. A computer program feeds
the robot random instructions, which let it develop the concept of liftoff on its own.]
(By Lakshmi Sandhana, Wired News, Sept. 5, 2002)
A Fascination with Robots [I was fascinated by creations like Robby
the Robot from Forbidden Planet, Gigantor in the cartoon series of the
same name, the "Lost in Space" robot, and Star Wars' R2-D2 and C-3PO.]
(By Lance Ulanoff, PC Magazine, July 10, 2002)
* Review: The four-dimensional, posthuman worlds of Rudy Rucker
[The "transreal" world of Rudy Rucker is very refreshing. All main transhumanist
concepts, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), mind uploading, nanotechnology,
deep genetic and mental modifications, are explored and embedded in a narrative
universe outlined with great scientific and literary skills.]
(By G.P., Transhumanity, June 16, 2002)
* Predicting AI's future [BBC Webcast from MIT with three leading AI experts:
Ray Kurzweil, author of two books on AI; Dr Rodney Brooks, the director of MIT's
artificial intelligence laboratory; and Colin Angle, CEO of the company iRobot.]
(By Kevin Anderson, BBC News, Sept. 21, 2001)
* FILM: "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"
[In "A.I.," Steven Spielberg continues his quest to be a real
live adult. He was far greater as a real live boy.]
(By Charles Taylor, Salon.com, June 29, 2001)
"One Half Of A Manifesto": Lanier's postscript on Ray Kurtzweil
[I also see a distinction between quantity and quality that Ray doesn't.
I see computers getting bigger and faster, but it doesn't directly
follow that computer science is also improving exponentially.]
(By Jaron Lanier, The Reality Club, Nov. 11, 2000)
The Intelligent Camera: Images of Computer Vision
[The field of computer vision is concerned with the problem of deducing properties
of object surfaces and the position and orientation of objects in scenes.]
(By WEL Grimson, PNAS, Vol. 90, 9791-9794, 1993)
On the Definition of the Concepts Thinking, Consciousness, and Conscience
[Consciousness is a process of realization by the thinking CS of some set of algorithms
consisting of the comparison of its knowledge, intentions, decisions, and actions with
reality— i.e., with accumulated & continuously received internal & external information.
Conscience is a realization of an algorithm of good and evil pattern recognition.]
(By A. S. Monin, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. Vol. 89, 5774-5778, 1992)
Life in Godel's universe: maps all the way— mathematician Kurt Godel
[Godel's proof did not involve either an observation or an experiment. Instead it harked
back to the ancient philosophical notions of a priori reasoning, to the Platonic idea
that we may attain knowledge of reality through the powers of the mind alone.]
(By George Zebrowski, Omni, April 1992)
* Conscious Machines [We are not much aware of what our bodies do.
We're even less aware of what goes on inside our brains.]
(By Marvin Minsky, Machinery of Consciousness, June 1991)
Organization of Memory
[A new learning algorithm is presented that may have applications
in the theory of natural and artificial intelligence.]
(By Andrzej Ehrenfeucht & Jan Mycielski, PNAS, Vol. 70, 1478-1480, 1973)
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